gruendler



Nov. 9 1926.

G. J. GRUENDLER REFRIGERATOR 3 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. :5, 1925 G. J.GRUENDLER REFRIGERATOR Flled Oct 5 1925 Fig Nov. 9 i926.

e W W Wm m m mw f W6- i MJW Nov. 9 1926.

G. J. GRUENDLER REFRIGERATOR Filed Oct. 5 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet i wwwPatented Nov. 9, i925.

parte' "i3-ats a i t:

-esrAv J. GRUENDLER, or CILAYTorLMrssoURI.

REF'RIGERATOR.

Application led' October 3, 1925.

My invention relates 'to refrigerators and more particularly toshow-case refrigerators having an Velongated storage Acompartment 'withtransparent panels in the walls thereof.

`Heretofore these transparent panels in ishow-case refrigeratorscomprised a vplurality ofplates Ofglassv usually arranged to forni aplurality of air spaces therebetween so as to 'better insulate therefrigerator Vvwhereby only a comparatively small amountflheatleaks'throughfinto the interior of the refrigerator. Howev'en theuse of a "plurality of vplates vof glassfin the panels wasobjectionablesin'ce each of "the plates relflect'ed Vlight 'and' the"outward reflections EfromA the'inner 'plates tof: glass were againreflectedv inwardly by the'inner sides of the outer'plates. TheAplurality'iof reflections madetlit diificult'to'see through the trans-Vparent panels/into' the interior of' the ystorlitage'A''compafrtine'ntof fthe refrigerator wherefin f articles vwere y'disl'jlayed Thisrdifficulty of vision is greater in theA front" panel `of'ltherefrigerator asthe'image of the customer is reflectedtherein and itis usually through the front panel that the customer I:attemptstoeXamine the goods on display. l1'lheo'bjects 'of my invention are topro- "videlinthe front wall :of a refrigerator a` :transparentpanel'whichwill allow a clear view' `of' the' contents' cf the storagecom- 'par'trnent of the refrigerator and which will more effectuallyprevent the escape of cold I'air fromthefV interior( of the refrigeratorHrand prevent the entrance of warm air there- "into.

My ii'ivention-is fullyshown in the accomf"panyir'ig" drawings whereinsimilar letters I'are' ifs'ed to 'designate similar parts: Fig. l is a'front view of a refrigerator embodying my invention; Fig. 2' is asectionalong the lines'Q-Q in Fig. l; Fig. 3' is a detail viewshowing"means for maintaining the lower ends of `theglass plates in'fixed relation; and 'Figlftshows a 'modified' form of my in- "vention YI'Ref'erririg to thefigures in the embodil"ment of my invention shownvtherein the refrigerator Alias'an ice'compartment B ar ranged at eitherend thereof and has'y the storage compartment @arranged centrallyy'lo'ngitudinallyf thereof asrshown in'Fg. l.

"The front wall' of the storage compartment ofthe refrigerator is almostentirely formed by the transparent panels D and the upper of thetetoragecompartment is formed Seriall No. 60,289.

therefrom. Substantially midway the top and bottom of the storagecompartment is the shelf H upon which provisions are placed and which,preferably, has `its rear end elevated as shown, so that a better viewmay be had from the front of the refrigerator of the articles arrangedon this shelf.

The transparentpanels,D each 'include an outer-glass plate J, aVmiddleplatel K and the inner plate Lpositioned to form two air spacestherebetween, as shown. The inner plate is, preferably,arranged:substantially vertical Vand 'in theembodiment of my inventionshown in'F-igs. lto 3, inclusive, the middle Vplate K is also arrangedsubstantially vertical and,y in turn, substantially parallel to theinnerpplateV L. The outer plate J is inclined to thevertical andvconverges upwardly towards' the vertical plates K and L, as shown inFig. 2. yTo facilitate manufacture and to lower the cost thereof Iprefer that the plates J ,K and L be of the same dimensions.

The means for 'maintaining the; glass plates J, K andL in fixed spacedrelation yis as follows The marginal surfaceof the inner side of theinner plate L bears at the'bottoni and at the sides against the framingVS and at the top bears against the L- `shaped bar R: The bottomextension of the bar'R carries the-lower glass of the transparent panelE lat the top of the rstorage compartment, as shown in Fig. 2. The 1nid-Adle plate Kis -spacedjfromthe inner plate L by thestrips N. Theouterplate J is spaced at the bottom from the middle plate K by the`comparatively.wide strip P and ,at the top bythe comparatively narrowstrip M the outer edge of which is slightly beveled so las to bearagainst the marginal edge of the top-of the plate J which is inclined,as hereinbefore described. At each of their sides the plates K and J vare maintained in plate J. Around the outer side of the plate J at thetop and at the sides are arranged the strips M and at the lower sidethereof is placed the strip Q which has formed on its inner edge,preferably integral therewith, a shoe adapted to be positioned under thelower edge of the plate J to support the plate in fixed position. As theouter plate J is arranged at an angle to the vertical the lower edgethereof' Will be at an angle to the horizontal and the engaging surfaceof the shoe on the'strip Q is arranged at substantially the same angleto the horizontal whereby it will engage the entire surface of' thelower edge of the plate and thereby prevent any strain being put uponone corner of this lower edge. Packing O of rubber or any other suitablematerial is, preferably, placed at the lower edges of the plates J, Kand L so that leakage of air at the bottom of the panel is efectuallyprevented. Also, the packing will fill any irregularities in the platesor spa ing strips and will provide even bearing surfaces when the stripsare put in place so the pressure of the strips will be distributed andno undue strain will be put at any one point on the glass plates. Thearrangement of the spacing strips N, P and Q at the bottom of the platesis shown in detail in Fig. 3.

In the modified form of my invention shown in Fig. 4 each of the platesJ, K and L is arranged at a different angle than the other plates. Theinner plate L is arranged substantially vertical, 4the middle plate K isarranged to incline slightly to the vertical and the outer plate J isarranged at a greater inclination to the vertical than the middle plateK. The plates L and K are separated at their lower sides by the spacingstrip N and the plates K and J are separated at their lower sides by aspacing strip P which, in this embodiment of my invention, has at itsinner edge a shoe adapted to engage the lower edge of the plate K. Attheir sides the plates are separated by the strips T which are similarto the strips T in the other form of my invention shown in Fig. 2 andwhich have their edges arranged at an angle to engage the sides of theplates, as shown in Fig. 4.

Since, as stated above, I prefer to have all of the plates of the samesize, in this modilied form of my invention the lower plate K will haveto be slightly raised and, therefore, the shoe on the strip P is of athickness to slightly raise the lower edge of the plate K. The shoe onthe strip Q is slightly thicker than that on the strip P so as to raisethe lower edge ot the plate J higher than the lower edge of the plate Kas the inclination of the plate J is greater than that of the plate K.

It may be readily seen that the transparent panels in the front wall ofthe storage compartment of a refrigerator embodying my invention willallow a clear view of the interior of the storage compartment. Thearrangement oit the front and rear glass plates at different angles willobviate reflections therebetween since the plates being disposed indifferent planes have different angles ot' reflection. Also, thetransparent panels more efectually prevent the escape of' cold air fromthe storage compartment and the entrance of warm air thcreinto becauseof the con'iparatively wide space separating the inner and outer platesof glass at their low er edges. Further, since the space between theplates is less at the top than at the bottom any warm air passing intothe space between the glass plates and rising therein will be contractedin volume between the upwardly converging plates and this contractionwill have a cooling effect upon the air. Furthermore, as stated above,when the lower edges of the inclined plates are supported and maintainedin fixed position by the means described no undue strain will be put onthe glass at any one point and breakage will be prevented to a largeextent.

I do not propose to limit my invention to the exact details ofconstruction shown in the drawings since the shape and size of thevarious parts may be varied within wide limits without deviating fromthe spirit of my invention.

lV hat l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is :-n

l. A refrigerator having a storage compartment therein with atransparent panel arranged in the front. wall thereof, said Siitransparent panel including a plurality of Y glass plates arranged toconverge upwardly and spaced apart to form a plurality of air spaces,and means for maintaining said plates in fixed position.

2. A refrigerator having a storage compartn'icnt therein with atransparent panel arranged in the 'front wall thereof, said transparentpanel including a glass plate arranged in a substantially vertical planeand another glass plate arranged at an inclination to the vertical, andmeans for maintaining said plates in fixed position.

3. A refrigerator having a storage compartment therein with atransparent panel arranged in the front wall thereof, said transparentpanel including a plurality of glass plates. the innermost of saidplates being substantially vertical and the outermost of said platesbeing inclined to the vertical, and means for maintaining said plates infixed position. l

4. A refrigerator having a storage compartment therein with atransparent panel arranged in the front wall thereof, said transparentpanel including a plurality of upwardly eoi'iverging glass plates theinnermost ot which is substantially vertical, and means for maintainingsaid plates in fixed position, said means including spacing stripsarranged at the bottom oit' said panel to maintain said plates in lixedspaced relation and a slice arranged and adapted to support said platewhich is inclined to the vertical.

5. A refrigerator having a storage compartment therein with atransparent panel arranged in the front Wall thereof, said transparentpanel including a plurality of upwardly converging glass plates, andmeans yincluding spacing strips arranged at the bottom of said panel tomaintain said plates in .fixed spaced relation, a shoe having aninclined upper surface arranged and adapted to support one ot' saidplates, and packing arranged between said plates and Said spacingstrips.

(i. A refrigerator having a storage compartment therein with atransparent panel arranged in the front Wall thereof, said transparentpanel including a plurality of glass plates, the innermost of saidplates being substantially vertical and the outermost oi said platesbeing inclined to the vertical, and means for maintaining said plates infixed position, said means including a plurality of spacing stripsarranged to maintain said plates in fixed spaced relation and one otsaid strips having formed along one edge thereof a shoe adapted toenga-ge the lower edge or' said inclined plate and the engaging surta-ceof said shoe being 'formed at the same angle as said lower edge of saidplate.

In Witness whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

GUSTAV J. GRUENDLER.

